Mercer Takes Regular Season Men's Basketball Title | News

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• First Atlantic Sun regular-season championship for the Mercer men's team since the 2002-2003 season.
• With the number one seed, the Bears will take on 8th seeded Lipscomb on Wednesday night at 8:30.
• If they win, Mercer moves on to face Jacksonville or USC Upstate this on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

DELAND, Fla. (AP) - Travis Smith scored 15 points to lead five Mercer starters in double figures as the Bears beat Stetson 77-65 Saturday in each team's season finale to claim their first Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season championship since 2002-03.

Bud Thomas and Daniel Coursey scored 14 points apiece, Langston Hall added 12 and Jakob Gollon had 11 for Mercer (21-10, 14-4), which closes the season winning 9 of its last 10 games.

On top 55-50 with just over 7 minutes to play, Mercer used a 12-2 run, capped by Thomas' 3-pointer to extend its lead to 67-52 with 3:25 remaining. The Bears led by double figures the rest of the way.

Mercer shot 50 percent (27 of 54) compared to Stetson's 38.5 percent (20 of 52), and the Bears held a 17-10 advantage on turnovers.

Joel Naburgs scored 14 points to lead the Hatters (14-15, 11-7), who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

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